Building Safety from Scratch
Rethinking dwelling and women’s everyday security in Ahmedabad, India
A.O. Drăgan (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
R. Varma – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
F.M. van Andel – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
M. Tabassum – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
Despite India’s rapid economic growth, urbanization has paradoxically reinforced gendered exclusion, trapping women in a cycle of forced immobility and hyper-vigilance. This dissertation addresses the critical gap in urban safety measures, which currently rely on reactive surveillance rather than proactive design. Titled Building Safety from Scratch, the research advocates for a paradigm shift where safety is embedded into the architectural DNA of housing itself.
Located on the Bimanagar site in Ahmedabad, the study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, integrating sociographic data with immersive fieldwork to map the lived reality of insecurity. The resulting design proposal offers a replicable template that is meant to encourage natural surveillance and ensure shared domesticity, along with the creation of a sense of community for the future residents. Moreover, by prioritizing the female perspective, this project demonstrates how architecture can actively dismantle spatial barriers, transforming the built environment from a source of anxiety into an infrastructure of care.